


Soulmate AUs

by MaggieMaybe160



Series: Soulmate AU One-shots [14]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2018-12-31 00:25:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 13,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12120552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaggieMaybe160/pseuds/MaggieMaybe160
Summary: Original folder for Soulmate Aus





	1. Soulmate Tattoos

**Author's Note:**

> (The first words your soulmate says to you is tattooed on your body)

Sam felt conflicted as he traced the first words he had ever spoken to Jessica Moore on her thigh. He loved that the words were his. He felt guilty that the words on his ankle didn’t belong to her. He kept the tattoo covered with socks and she had never pressed to see it. Maybe she thought they were hers.

* * *

Dean had grown up knowing that everyone was born with a tattoo of the first words that their soulmate would ever speak to them. He had watched as other people compared theirs or traced their fingers over the markings. Dean stared at his and felt alone. Everyone else had words. He had a tattoo that didn’t say anything. They were squiggles and strange symbols. Dean didn’t know that they were Enochian. 

* * *

Sam and Dean got back to their bunker that was their home. It had been a long day. The brothers exchanged grunts before going off to their respective rooms. Sam sat on his bed with a heavy sigh and ran his hands through his hair before kicking off his shoes and leaning over to take his socks off. His fingers brushed his tattoo and he did a double take. “Sorry. I wasn’t working that night.” He smiled a little, relief and the rare sweep of happiness taking over as he fell back onto his pillows. Eileen. 

* * *

Dean had tried almost his whole life to scratch or cut or burn off the tattoo of the dumb squiggles that marked his rib. Scars that had built up around and on top of it had been healed away by each healing touch that Castiel had given him for every injury he’d had since he’d come back from Hell. He wrote one of the markings on a page, just idly doodling while drinking a beer and putting off research. Cas walked behind him and looked at it. 

“Are you learning Enochian?” Cas asked as he stopped behind Dean’s chair and looked at the ancient word. 

“No?” Dean moved to scribble out the symbol. 

“Where is the rest of the sentence?” 

Irritated, Dean drew out the entire tattoo that he had memorized from his own ribs. Cas looked at it for a moment and smiled. 

“How did you know what I said to you in that gas station in Illinois?” 

Dean looked from Cas to the markings and shrugged, his face burning. He crumpled up the paper mumbling something about “just doodles” and walked to his room. 

* * *

Angels, being celestial beings, didn’t have tattoos. When they took a human vessel, usually no tattoo would replace the previous owner’s. Castiel had had two tattoos for years after he had found his vessel, Jimmy Novak. Jimmy’s tattoo stayed on his inner arm until the moment he died, when it faded to the pale white of his skin. When Castiel had possessed Jimmy, a new tattoo had appeared on his ribs. “Who are you?” was all it said. Castiel tried to ignore that he had a tattoo at all. Angels weren’t supposed to have soul mates. The ones who did were typically hunted to avoid the creation of Nephilim. He heard the words not long after acquiring his vessel. He head the words come from Dean Winchester on his first night on Earth in the 21st century. 


	2. Bodyswap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You switch bodies when the youngest soulmate turns 21. Only lasts a week.

Dean had honestly never believed in soulmates. It seemed like crap. Another person was out there, perfectly matched to you? No. No way. Maybe for someone else but definitely not him. Which is why, on his 21st birthday he was surprised when he was wrenched out of his body and thrown into Heaven.

 * * *

Castiel sat up in a grungy motel bed. A half eaten pie was on the nightstand. Papers and pictures were pinned to the wall opposite the bed. There was snoring in the next bed. How had he gotten here? What was going on? He got up and went to the window. He saw the stars outside and the heart that was beating inside his chest jolted. _Earth._

The last time Castiel had been on Earth had been a century ago at least. The humans were good at evolving. But what was he, an angel, doing on Earth? How had he acquired a vessel without permission? What vessel was he in?

Cas walked to the dingy bathroom and looked into the face of Michael’s vessel. Dean Winchester. This was against the rules. This was not right. But look how good he looked. Cas felt himself swoon just a little before reminding himself that he was an angel and angels don’t get crushes or fall in love. Especially with humans.

* * *

Dean closed his eyes as hard as he could, willing himself to wake up. The world around him had changed. He was sure he was either dead or dreaming. He didn’t know how long he had been there but he didn’t have his body. He was made of light or energy or something. There were noises happening around him but he couldn’t understand.

“I pray to the angels in Heaven,” a little girl’s voice spoke as if directly into Dean’s ear. Dean snapped his eyes open but there was no little girl. “Watch over my daddy while he’s away and give me good night dreams.”

“I’m no angel.” Dean thought but the words that left his lips were of the strange sounds around him that he couldn’t understand.

 * * *

“Happy Birthday, Dean.” a 17 year old Sam Winchester said as they got into a 1967 Chevy Impala. Sam seat belted himself into the front seat as Cas stared at the steering wheel. He had never driven an automobile. When Cas didn’t move, Sam looked over at him. “You okay?”

“I know how to drive.” Cas said immediately.

“I didn’t say you didn’t.” Sam laughed a little and looked out his window as Cas put the keys into the ignition.

When they made it to the high school Sam was pressed to his seat and gripping his backpack. His teeth were clenched and his eyes were wide as the car came to a jarring halt in front of the school. “Have a good day.” Cas smiled.

“Yeah. Okay.” Sam said breathlessly as he got out of the car.

Cas drove to the library, only rear ending a few cars on the way. He decided to try to use a computer to find out about body switching and came up with theoretical websites describing what humans thought happened when they turned 21. The idea was that if you had a soulmate, you switched bodies for a week so it would be easier to find the other person.

“No.” Cas was horrified by the thought of being a soulmate to a human. Sure, his supposed soul mate was the most attractive person, angel, or creature he had ever seen but it was heresy for an angel to fall in love at all.

If Cas was in Dean’s body, that meant Dean was in Cas’s celestial form. He could probably pray to his own name and Dean would hear him. The poor human must be traumatized. Cas made it back to the hotel he had started at and sat in the car longer. He had never been on this end of prayers.

“I pray to Castiel.”

 * * *

“I pray to Castiel.” Dean heard his own voice ringing in his head. “I mean. Dean Winchester. Since. I’m… Castiel.” Dean tried covering his ears but he didn’t know where his hands were or where his ears were or what any of this was. “We seemed to have switched bodies. It’s only for a short period of time according to other humans. Can you hear me? This is very awkward. How can humans do this?”

“What? No.” Dean suddenly realized what the person using his voice was saying. “This isn’t happening. I don’t have one. This can’t be happening.”

“I should introduce myself better so you know what’s happening. I’m Castiel, an angel of the Lord. You are in my celestial form in Heaven. I want you to know I took your brother to school. This should be fixed soon. Uh. Bye?”

“I DON’T HAVE A SOUL MATE!” Dean screamed.

 * * *

The next morning, Cas was waiting for Sam to wake up. He didn’t know how to sleep so he hadn’t even tried. He’d stayed awake, looking for other human things to do. He ate the entire cherry pie that was in the motel refrigerator, made the coffee maker light itself on fire (so he threw it in the bathtub), and watched late night talk shows on the static-y television set.

“Ready to go to school?” Cas asked a few hours later, trying to flip the car keys casually but flinging them into Dean’s face.

“I think I’ll walk today.” Sam said as he edged toward the door.

“Oh.” Cas tried not to let the disappointment seep into his voice as he rubbed his face where the keys had hit him.

It was as Castiel had told Dean. A week later Dean woke up in the motel bed. Sam was sitting up doing homework on his bed when Dean came to, covering his ears with both hands and his eyes shut as tight as he could.

“You okay?” Sam asked, looking over at him.

“Aces.” Dean sighed before grabbing his jacket and going to the impala. “No!” He screamed as he saw the dents, scrapes, and scratches. One of the lights was broken and the back wasn’t better. “Cas!” Dean screamed.

 * * *

“Cas!” Castiel could hear Dean’s anguish but he knew not to respond or return to Earth until he had to rescue that boy from Hell in a few short years. He would forget Cas’s name as the car was fixed and the family turmoil of Sam leaving for college would leave Dean with more pressing matters than thinking about the soul mate he didn’t believe existed. Eventually it would fade as a dream might fade. And with this, Cas was content, for an angel with a soulmate was strictly against the rules.


	3. Soulmate Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The name of your soulmate appears on your wrist at age 13.

When Dean had turned thirteen, a single name had appeared on his wrist. It had happened to others. It was supposed to be the name of your soulmate. Dean didn’t believe in soulmates. That year was the year Dean Winchester started wearing a bracelet.

The name had appeared slowly. The first day it looked kind of like a bruise. Over several days, the name became clearer and clearer. Castiel. Dean had never met anyone with a name like that. It sounded strange. Didn’t people usually get a full name?

John had noticed the bracelet but hadn’t asked about the name. He hadn’t asked about the new fashion trend. He hadn’t mentioned anything other than hunting to Dean since before Sam could talk.

 * * *

When Sam turned thirteen he showed his big brother the weird bruise on his wrist. Dean told him that it was going to turn into the name of his supposed soulmate. Sam loved the idea of a soulmate. He loved the idea that there was someone out there perfect for him. So Sam waited for the name to show.

“I don’t know anyone named Eileen Leahy.” Sam protested when the name became clear. “Show me yours.”

“I don’t have one.” Dean lied.

 * * *

The day Sam Winchester met Jessica Moore, everything changed. He questioned the name on his wrist when he shook Jessica’s hand and saw his name printed neatly on the pale skin of her inner arm. Could soulmates be mismatched? Could the names be wrong? Were soulmates real?

Sam dug into every theory on soulmates he could find as he had been trained to do with any other problem he had. Nothing came up about mismatched soulmates or about the names on the wrists ever being wrong. So why was his?

 * * *

It had been years since either of the Winchester brothers had thought about the names on their wrists. Sam had decided to ignore his when he fell in love with Jessica Moore in college. Dean had decided not to acknowledge the name on his wrist since the day it appeared.

“Castiel?” Pamela, the psychic Bobby had brought them to, asked in the middle of her conjuring. Dean’s stomach flipped.

“Castiel?” He felt like choking.

“It’s name. It’s whispering to me. It’s warning me to turn back.”

When Dean saw Pamela’s eyes get burned out, he felt sick. His soulmate was a brand of monster strong enough to pull him out of Hell, burn out the eyes of people, shatter glass, and who knew what else?

 * * *

Castiel hadn’t noticed when he slipped into Jimmy Novak’s body when Dean Winchester’s name appeared on the opposite wrist where Jimmy’s wife’s name was printed. He didn’t think to look since angels didn’t have soul mates. Or so he thought.

When Dean came face to face with the so called monster whose name was hidden beneath a bracelet on his wrist, he saw his name.

“I’m the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition.” Castiel said without hesitation.

“Yeah. Thanks for that.” Dean had sunk the demon blade into his chest, knowing full well that this was supposed to be his soul mate.

The monster with the name Castiel, stared into Dean’s eyes as he took the blade from his chest and dropped it onto the floor. When he had grabbed the knife, Dean saw the flash of his name on the other man’s wrist and his heart sank.

He had been able to pretend that he didn’t have a name on his wrist. He had been able to be skeptical of the whole soul mate idea. He had been able to convince himself that no one would ever have his name on them. But there it was.

 * * *

By the time Sam Winchester met his soulmate, he had left the idea of soulmates behind. He had watched Jessica, the girl with his name on her wrist, die above him in flames. He had never met any woman with the name Eileen. He had thought that the name on his wrist was a mistake since it hadn’t matched Jessica’s.

When Sam approached a maid during a routine fake FBI investigation, he saw his name on her wrist. The kid in him who had been excited to read the name on his own wrist all those years ago, perked up and waited to learn her name. The cynic who had grown tired of searching for a soulmate after all these years told the child in his to settle.

He searched her name tag. It didn’t match. Marlene. Both the kid and the cynic sighed and sat back. He wouldn’t endanger a woman by falling in love with her again. If she had his name on her and it didn’t match his, it was either that fate had a sick sense of humor by not matching him with anyone, or that if their name didn’t match, they would die.

Sam pressed the fresh wound on his hand as he looked at the maid who had mistaken him for a banshee. _The hunter_ , he corrected himself silently.

“My name is Sam Winchester.” A flicker passed over her face for a split second. It was fast enough that he couldn’t be sure it was there at all.

“Eileen Leahy.”

The little kid won over the cynic. His heart raced as he listened to her tell him how she got into hunting banshees. Maybe he had a shot at happiness after all.

 * * *

The day Jodie Mills called Sam to tell him that Eileen had been killed, he felt his heart break. He didn’t have the relationship he had wanted to have with her. He hadn’t gotten a lifetime of laughs and stories in. He hadn’t gotten to kiss her or actually talk to her about the soulmate thing. They both knew, obviously. But they had never talked about it. Now it was too late.

“People who do what we do…” Sam felt like crying as he looked down at Eileen’s torn up body. “You know there will be deaths, but this…”

_I hate to be all girly, but could I bunk with you guys for a few days until I sort this all out?_ Sam heard it over and over in his head as he looked down at his wrist. The name looked like a faded scar, the same color as his skin, just raised like the letters of her name had been cut out of his skin.

 * * *

Bright light shot from Cas’s eyes and mouth as the angel blade that Lucifer held stabbed through his back. Dean felt his heart break as the world moved around him. He sank to his knees beside his angel and when he reached for the limp hand of his friend, he saw his name. Cas’s name on his own wrist was fading. He wiped tears away from his face as he saw the letters turn into small white scars.

He hadn’t believed in soulmates. He had covered the name and refused its existence. He never told Cas even after he started falling for his best friend. He never told Cas that he had seen his name on his wrist. He’d never told Cas.


	4. Color My World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You see in black and white until you meet your soulmate but it goes back to black and white when they die.

Sam Winchester had been living blissfully with Jessica Moore and every color available to the human eye that she brought with her. When they had met on the first day of their Sophomore year at Stanford University, both of their worlds became colorful and beautiful and they never wanted to be apart. That was how Sam convinced himself that this was his path. This was the right path.

When Dean dropped Sam back off at his apartment in Sam’s senior year of college, Sam let himself relax. He had killed a woman in white, found their dad’s journal, and gotten back before Monday. The blood that dropped onto Sam’s forehead was red. The flames that engulfed the love of his life on the ceiling above him was bright orange and yellow.

As Dean dragged Sam out of the apartment and down the stairwell that had cracked and peeling pale green paint, all of the color that had filled his life for two years shut off like a light. The paint was gray. The brown coat Dean was wearing was a gray so dark it was almost black. The lights that were flashing outside when they got there weren’t red like Sam knew they should be. They were bright white.

His Jessica was dead and she’d taken the colors with her.

 * * *

The barn door opened and Dean’s vision erupted with colors. Bright yellow sparks flew from the exploding lights. The man walking toward them had dark brown hair, deep blue eyes, and pink lips. Dean raised his gun anyway and fired. The tan trench coat ripped where the shots hit him, but he kept walking. The navy tie swayed slightly as he walked, his blue eyes fixed on Dean.

Dean knew what the colors meant. He knew that this meant he had just met his soulmate. His soulmate was a monster powerful enough to pull him from Hell. Powerful enough to scare demons, burn the eyes out of demons and humans alike, and withstand every sigil that Dean and Bobby knew. Dean didn’t want a soulmate but he knew that a monster soulmate was out of the question.

* * *

Dean kicked in the door and saw Cas with an angel blade to his throat. “Cas!” April, the rogue reaper holding the blade, drew back and stabbed Cas through the middle. Dean ran toward her and she hurled him across the room. When he opened his eyes again, behind the chair that Cas was in, every color was gone. Cas’ light blue shirt was now white. His hair was black. The red blood that marked him was now black.It had been years since he hadn’t seen colors. They had dulled during the year that he was with Lisa instead of Cas, but they had still been there.

Dean took the blade and killed April. Dean turned and went to ~~his angel~~ Cas.

“Cas?” Dean cupped Cas’s face between his hands gently. “Cas!” Dean felt his heart breaking as he stood up and backed away, knowing that his ~~angel~~ human was gone. “Sam, he’s gone.”

It was Ezekiel who answered. He rose from where he and Sam had fallen and walked over to Cas, laying his hand just over Cas’s wounds. Ezekiel staggered backward and fell against the wall.

“Dean.” The single word came with every color and a jumpstart to Dean’s heart. He turned quickly and went back to Cas. Cas who’s big blue eyes were open and alive. Dean wanted to pull him into his arms and kiss him. He wanted to memorize every color that made up Cas.

“Hey. Hey!” Dean stopped himself halfway through running his fingers down Cas’s arm. “Yeah.” Everything was alright again. The colors were back. ~~His angel~~ his human was back. His Cas and every color around him seemed to be just that much brighter than it was before.

* * *

Sam glanced up while the retirement resident fawned over his brother. He saw a maid in a dark green apron with rich brown hair tied back away from her face. Then it hit Sam. Green. Brown. Neon orange. Colors had suddenly come back. Colors that Sam hadn’t seen since the night Jessica died.

Sam tried to ignore it for the time being. “Ms. Baker. What did you see?” Her cardigan was pink and brown. Her hair was a pale yellow. He failed. “Excuse me. One second.”

After talking to her for the first time, Sam felt his heart sink. He couldn’t be with another person who wasn’t a hunter or someone who wasn’t already part of this world. He had made that promise after Jessica had died. He couldn’t do it to anyone else.

It was that night when Sam found out that she was a hunter. That she was hunting the banshee he was hunting. That he maybe had a small dash of hope of seeing her again after this hunt was over.

* * *

Sam knew what it meant that morning when he woke up. He knew what it meant when the hair in his face wasn’t brown anymore. He knew what it meant when all he could see was black and white. He hadn’t had a chance to fall in love with Eileen Leahy. He had become friends with her but there hadn’t been enough time for anything else and now it was too late.

Sam already knew and his heart ached but he picked up Jodie Mills’ phone call anyway. He listened to her tell him what he already knew. Eileen was dead.

* * *

Bright light shot from Cas’s eyes and mouth and in that moment, Dean’s world lost all color. When he knelt next to the dead angel, he tried to remember what the colors had looked like that had brought his world to life. He tried to bring up the memory of the exact shade of brown that Cas’ hair was. The deep blue of his eyes. The beige of the coat.

The memories stayed but all Dean could see as he looked down at Cas was black and white and gray. He cried as he thought of the first time he had ever seen color. How beautiful the world had become and how ready he had been to kill the being who brought the color into his world. He felt tears running down his face but he didn’t care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any soulmate imagines you want me to write just leave a comment and I'll do my best. :)


	5. Soulmate String

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soulmates have a string wrapped around their finger or wrist that connects them to their soulmate.
> 
> As requested by TearOfTheWolf

Dean stared at the man that had just broken the barn doors and was walking through the shattering lights. The string that was wound around Dean’s wrist, that no one else seemed to see, was connected on the other end to the stranger who appeared to be the Castiel who had brought Dean up from Hell. The man, in trenchcoat and suit, didn’t seem to notice the string that was connecting them. He didn’t seem to notice anything around him except for Dean. He kept walking even as Dean and Bobby shot his chest with rock salt and silver. Dean remembered when he first noticed the string. 

He had been around thirteen when he noticed a string tied around his wrist that went straight up to the ceiling. He had known, of course, that this string was supposed to connect one person to their soulmate. Whatever a soulmate was. The first question he had had was if his supposed soulmate was an astronaut. The second was how he could sever the string. So he had tried. He had used every kind of knife they owned. It was when Sam asked what he was doing that Dean realized that no one else could even see the string that was making him lose his mind. 

Dean hadn’t given the string a second thought in years. He hadn’t tried breaking it since he was a teeanger and he hadn’t bothered to wonder about why it went straight up into the ceiling. It was the day after he’d gotten out of Hell that the string was no longer connected to the ceiling. He hadn’t thought about it. He hadn’t thought about it until he was staring into the very blue eyes of the man attached to the other end of the string.

Dean had never wanted a soulmate. He had refused his soulmate by trying to saw the string off. He had ignored the indestructible string and had never tried to find out who was on the other end. He had never wanted to. He had thought that maybe it was a normal person that he couldn’t bring into this life. He had never thought of the possibility that his soulmate would be a monster. He had never dared to think that. 

It pained Dean just a little to grip the demon blade behind his back as he spoke to the stunningly handsome monster who was apparently destined to be his soulmate. He argued with himself only for a moment about killing the being who was his supposed perfect match. He plunged the blade into the chest of the man and was both relieved and stunned to find that he wasn’t dead. He was irritated as he pulled the knife out and dropped it to the floor. 

“I’m an angel of the lord.” Castiel showed his wings to Dean and the pieces to the puzzle he’d tried to forget fit into place. The string that always went straight up. It was going to Heaven. When it wasn’t up anymore, Castiel had come down to Earth. 

* * *

Sam had been excited when he had woken up and found a thin silvery string tied to his wrist with no end in sight. He had tried convincing Dean to drive in the direction the string led with little lies of directions like “the library with the book you need is there” or “I think I dropped something this way when I was walking earlier.” It had never gotten them anywhere. The string was too long and if they were gone for too long their dad would get mad. 

So Sam decided to play it cool. One day he would meet the girl on the other end of the string and he’d know. He would think about who she was, though. He’d think about if she was a hunter woman that would save him from some monster. Or maybe she was an actress. Maybe she was a superstar athlete. The only one Sam ever liked more than the others was when he thought about her being a normal, average lady who went to college and got good grades. Someone who was as far from the hunting life as it was possible to get.

Sam met her on the first day of his Sophomore year. Jessica Moore had been in her dorm room with her friend when she noticed that the string seemed to have gotten more slack maybe? She had been playing with it and her roommate had convinced her to follow it. So they followed it, giggling and talking about who it could possibly be. Jessica had been looking down, quickly following the string instead of looking around herself. That was how she ran straight into Sam Winchester who dropped all of the books he’d been carrying. 

“I’m so sorry!” She half laughed as she helped him pick them up and that was when they both saw that the string on their wrists was connected. Jessica blushed and continued to pick up the books with Sam. Sam piled them into his arms before awkwardly extending one hand beneath the pile. 

“Sam Winchester.” He smiled. 

“Jess Moore.” She grinned back, taking his hand.

* * *

Sam had been having nightmares about Jessica dying for months. He had nightmares of her burning on the ceiling. Of her stomach slashed open. Of a soundless scream. He always woke up and there she was, right next to him. Their wrists, with their connected string, right next to each other. He always sighed with relief and told himself that it wasn’t going to happen. 

Then it happened. Sam returned from his trip with Dean and crashed onto his bed. He smiled as he closed his eyes and then it hit him. A drop. He opened his eyes and his worst nightmare became true. He screamed for her. He couldn’t see anything else. He knew Dean was dragging him out of the apartment. He could only see Jess. 

In the stairwell, the string snapped. Sam felt his heart shatter as the string faded into nothing and he was alone. His string was gone. His Jessica was gone. 


	6. Charmed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Each person has a locket/charm that fits perfectly with their soulmates’ locket/charm.

Garth Fitzgerald IV had always been teased for the bracelet he’d found and worn. He had found a bracelet with a broken charm when he had been in high school. He liked the way it looked and had decided that it didn’t matter if he was picked on for it. He was picked on anyway. He was made fun of for his gawkiness and his favorite shirts. He was teased for still dressing up on Halloween when he was a teenager. He was picked on for his haircut, the way he walked, the words he used. He decided not to care. He was who he was and he liked the bracelet so he was going to wear it.

* * *

Bess Meyers was studying under a tree at the library and playing with the silver chain that held the silver bullet when she noticed a glint in the grass. She put her books aside and let the silver bullet necklace fall back to her chest. She picked up a bracelet with a broken charm. It looked like half a paw print but she couldn’t tell. She had never seen anyone around who had worn a bracelet like this and she couldn’t find the rest of the charm. So she put it on and told herself that if she found the person it belonged to, she would return it.

* * *

Garth was sleeping fitfully. The fever of turning into a werewolf had set in an hour before. Bess sat by his bed with a cold washcloth wondering if she was doing the right thing. She knew that to be born a lycanthrope was her life, but his life had been human. Was this life going to be better or worse than if she had let him kill himself?

She pressed the cold washcloth to his forehead as his hand gripped the edge of the bed. She looked down at his hand, feeling guilty. The charm on his bracelet looked broken. She looked down at her own broken charm. Over the years she had added more charms that she had bought in gift shops. 

She put the washcloth back in the cold water basin and pulled at her own broken charm. She bit her lip as she looked at Garth’s broken charm. It was ridiculous. There was some story about soulmates about the charms fitting together, but could it be real? Was it real? 

Bess picked up Garth’s charm and fit it to her own. They clicked perfectly to form a paw print. She felt herself blush and hastily drew her hand away but when she looked up Garth was staring at his bracelet. 

“Did… Did they just..?” Garth asked, pointing to her bracelet. 

“You need to rest.” Bess said, hiding her blush by looking away. 

* * *

“Bess. You know what it means.” Garth said a week later as they sat together after church. Bess couldn’t help but smile. “We’re soulmates. You’ve heard the stories, too. You know.” 

“I know.” She admitted. “Even if we weren’t… I’d like you anyway.”

Garth felt himself blush. “I’d like you anyway, too.” 

*** * ***

Charlie Bradbury had a very particular style and broken charm bracelets didn’t fit into it. She had found it a few years after her parents had died. She never wore it but she kept it with her, often running her finger over the jagged charm in her sweater pocket. She hadn’t really cared if it had belonged to someone before her. It brought her comfort even if she didn’t understand why. 

When Charlie found out about the rumored stories that said if you found the person with the perfect match to your charm, you were soulmates, meant to be, perfectly matched. Charlie didn’t put a lot of stock into the idea. Not with her life. She was a nobody with a fake name and a fake life that was so erasable it was too easy. She never made any real attachments. She never went around asking girls about their bracelets. 

It wasn’t until she was away from that world. It wasn’t until Charlie made it to Oz. Dorothy rolled over to face Charlie. The glint of the broken charm on Dorothy’s wrist caught Charlie’s eye. 

“Where did you get that bracelet?” Charlie asked. It seemed like too ordinary of a question after the month spent asking fantastical questions about Oz. It seemed mundane and paled in comparison to questions about the war and the wicked witch and the magical properties of the world that now surrounded her. 

“I don’t remember. It was so long ago. Before I ever came to Oz.” Dorothy looked at the broken charm and shrugged half heartedly. “It’s broken anyway. Has been for years.” 

“I have a broken charm bracelet, too.” Charlie reached her hand over the side of the bed for her sweater and pulled it up before taking the bracelet out. 

“Oh?” Dorothy didn’t seem to know the stories that Charlie knew. They were probably just that- stories.  

“There’s a story back home that says if two people have broken charms that fit perfectly together that they’re meant to be. Some kind of fairytale ending.” Charlie didn’t move to connect their bracelets. She didn’t look back at Dorothy. It was one thing to sleep with someone. It was another to learn that they were your other half. That you were meant to be. 

“Do you want to check?” Dorothy asked after a moment. Charlie was still frozen. If their charms didn’t connect, she didn’t know what she would do. This was the first person she had ever told about the bracelet let alone cared enough about to want to belong with them. 

When Charlie didn’t answer, Dorothy gently took the bracelet from her and fit their bracelets together. The charm as a whole created a small house. Dorothy smiled and handed the bracelet back to Charlie. “See, nothing to worry about.” 

“Good thing I came with you then, huh?” Charlie asked. Dorothy just nodded before kissing the top of her head and getting out of bed. 


	7. Numbers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When you met your soulmate, the time you're given together appear on your skin over your heart.
> 
> For LunarXylop

Sam Winchester slumped against the door of his dorm room with a silly grin on his face. He had just met Jessica Moore, the most beautiful woman he had ever met. At nineteen, he was sure he had just met the love of his life. He shook out his shaggy head before getting up and going to the shower. He had a date to get ready for. 

Sam lifted his shirt over his head and dropped it onto the floor. Something caught his eye in the mirror. He did a double take and looked down at his chest. A small number 2.2 had appeared over his quickly beating heart. 

He had of course heard the stories. When you meet your soulmate, the amount of time you’re destined to be with them appears over your heart. He stared at the small number. Was the dot even real? Was it 2 or 22? 2 or 22 what? Days? Months? Years? What? 

 

Jessica ran her hand over the 2.2 on her chest. “Two point two or twenty two?” She asked her roommate as she fussed with her hair. When there was no response she kept talking. “I mean. We’re soulmates, right? So probably twenty two. What would two point two mean anyway?” 

There was a small knock at the door and Jessica grinned. 

“It has to be twenty two.” She whispered as she passed her roommate and opened the door to see her tall date waiting at the door. 

 

Two years had passed and Sam was wide awake with Jessica Moore curled up against his side. Her breathing was even and deep. He was covered in the cold sweat of nightmares. He had had another dream of her dying. Her burning alive the way his dad had always told them their mother had died. Her breathing and her warmth pressed against him was reassuring but he couldn’t shake the dream. The dream that haunted him every night for months now. 

 

Dean was driving the impala. Sam had his hand pressed to his chest. The tears he’d shed after Jessica’s death were gone and all that was left was staring out the window at the blackness. The radio played but Sam couldn’t hear it over his thoughts. 

Two years. He had had the best two years of his life. Sam froze. Two years and two months to be exact. The panic that had risen in his chest when he’d seen Jessica burning above him was back. The numbers he’d tricked himself into believing said twenty two were two point two. Two years and two months of bliss. Two years and two months of complete happiness with the most beautiful and talented woman he had ever hoped to meet. 

Dean pretended not to notice Sam’s hand tighten over his chest and the tears start up again. 


	8. Learning Languages

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not really a soulmate au. Just Sam and Dean learning the languages of their soulmates.

Sam Winchester had always had an easier time learning languages. He had taken Latin in school and he used it in his everyday life while learning exorcisms and other incantations. He had learned sign language in college and had been fairly good at it until he had fallen out of practice. Now he was trying again. 

Sam had just met Eileen Leahy, a beautiful hunter who had almost killed him. She was deaf and he wanted to learn sign language again so he could talk to her. So Sam had found books and dvd’s that taught ASL. Before anything, he relearned the alphabet, signing into a mirror. 

Dean walked by the bathroom on the way to his room and paused when he saw Sam looking down at a sheet of paper and back up at the mirror. Sam started to sign, mouthing the letters he was forming with his hand. Dean kept walking before Sam noticed. He smiled to himself, proud of his brother.

 

Sam had learned enough that he felt confident enough to try what he had learned. Dean was out getting pie. Sam grabbed the tablet and opened Skype. He pressed Eileen’s name to call and waited for her to pick up. When she did, a smile spread over his lips. 

Sam signed to her, “Hi! Haven’t talked to you in a long time.” 

Eileen grinned. “You’re doing so well! Are you learning again?”

“For you.” Sam relaxed when she grinned again. 

* * *

Dean Winchester sat in the impala with the Enochian Dictionary open against the steering wheel. He was parked in the garage of the bunker. He had a notebook open on the seat next to him where he had been practicing the Enochian alphabet. He looked up to make sure no one was around before he read out the phonetic spelling of one of the Enochian words. 

The word sounded awkward as it hung in the air. He looked at the word and tried again and again until the word started to sound more or less correct. 

Sam could hear something coming from the garage. He opened the door and looked in. Dean was back from grocery shopping but he was sitting in the impala with books. He wasn’t talking so much as repeating the same word over and over. The word sounded like it was from a different language but Sam couldn’t place it. 

 

Dean sank to his knees beside Cas’s body. The world grew darker around him and all he could see was Cas. His heart slammed in his chest. He felt tears spilling over onto his cheeks. “Ol aziazor elasa.” Dean whispered as he cried.  _ I love you.  _ He knelt forward, pressing his forehead to Cas’s chest. “Ipamis ol monons ollog? Ol aziazor elasa!”  _ Can you hear me? I love you! _

From the house, Sam could hear Dean sobbing in Enochian. He didn’t have to be told what language it was. He didn’t have to be told what he was saying. He knew what Dean was saying. He could hear his brother’s heart breaking. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can request soulmate au's and I'll see what I can do!


	9. A Little Taste of You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You can taste what your soulmate eats.

Castiel had always been a rule following angel. He had never rebelled. He had never questioned his orders. He had always been Castiel, Angel of the Lord. Nothing was extraordinary about him. Nothing, that is, until he tasted human food. No, Castiel did not eat human food. He had never eaten human food. He had never been tempted to eat human food. 

It started with little tastes that he could mostly ignore. Milk. Applesauce. Bananas. Then, the tastes began mixing and Castiel was thrilled. He didn’t know what was happening but he wasn’t about to tell anyone else about his own secret miracle. He kept his head down and did his work as usual as he enjoyed his first taste of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Of course, he didn’t know what he was tasting, he just knew that it was the best thing he had tasted thus far. 

It wasn’t long after the sandwiches and warm, perfectly cooked meals, that an intense shift of pallet began. It started when Castiel tasted ashes and smoke. It wasn’t food, he knew that. He didn’t understand that he was tasting the ashes and smoke from the house that was burning around a four year old Dean Winchester as he ran out of the house with his brother in his arms. 

The delicious foods that both Dean and Castiel had gotten used to over the past four years were abandoned in favor of poorly slapped together sandwiches, burnt food, cold soup, and awful gas station food. Castiel hated the new tastes. So did Dean. 

In John Winchester’s spiraling depression and the hard task of being thrust into the world of single parenting with a four year old and a six month old was hard on everyone. John did his best but his cooking was never even. He would forget to call Dean to dinner as he fed Sam, leaving the food cold by the time Dean got to it. While John coped with the new world of raising his children alone, his depression sank him into a world of demon hunting which led him further and further from his children. 

“What do you want for dinner, Sammy?” Dean asked his three year old brother. 

“Surprise Mac.” Sam beamed from his seat. 

Dean looked in the cabinets and found a box of Mac n Cheese and a half eaten tub of Marshmallow fluff. He made a face before deciding that it might be good anyway and cooking it. 

Castiel recoiled inwardly when the taste of macaroni and cheese mixed with marshmallow fluff hit his lips. There was no way to get the taste to leave. He had, of course, tasted worse at this point. A sugar bomb of everything with sugar that Dean could find all boiled together and eaten as a slushie, the blood from Dean falling down or catching the recoil of a gun to the face, vomit from when Dean had the flu and again when he got carsick. Castiel reminded himself that he had tasted worse. 

The first “grown up’ burger that Dean ever had was when he was ten. It was a regular sized burger with more than just cheese on it. It had all the toppings that his dad usually got: lettuce, tomatoes, onions, bacon, cheese, ketchup. Castiel tasted it that first time and again several times in the years after. There were, of course, variations. Castiel grew used to the taste so much so that it became somewhat of a comfort when it happened upon his senses. 

When Castiel made it to Earth to rescue and confront Dean Winchester, he was surprised when he found that every food Dean ate, he suddenly tasted. He looked up the phenomenon privately, still aware that whatever this strange miracle was, it would be frowned upon in Heaven. He found what it meant and was ejected from Jimmy Novak’s body the moment the angels did find out. 

Castiel had been tortured for the days that he had been in Heaven instead of in his vessel on Earth. It had been thought that the love he was already beginning to feel for Dean Winchester could be stopped with their torture and removal of his leadership on the mission. It hadn’t worked. All while they tortured, Castiel could taste the burgers and beer that he had gotten used to and loved. And now it all meant more for it was Dean’s burger and beer. It was Dean. 

 

Dean had been sure that he didn’t have a soulmate. The idea was that if you had a soulmate you could taste what they were eating. Dean didn’t think he had one and he didn’t want one. He had never tasted anything when he wasn’t eating. He had never been able to taste something that he’d never eaten. He’d never had any experience like that. Until after he got out of Hell. 

Two days after the first Valentine’s Day since he’d been out of Hell and suddenly he tasted burgers. He knew the taste. He loved the taste. But he wasn’t eating and he wasn’t hungry. The taste didn’t stop. All day, Dean didn’t eat but he could taste burgers. 

“What the hell was that?” Dean asked after Sam had broken the lock on the briefcase that held a blinding light. Suddenly, with the sound of wings, the smell that matched the taste on Dean’s lips was there. 

“A human soul.” Cas said. Dean’s green eyes widened when he saw Cas holding a bag full of burgers. Cas took a bite and the taste in Dean’s mouth renewed and became stronger. 

_ Happy Valentine’s Day, Dean Winchester. Castiel is your angel.  _ Dean told himself silently and couldn’t help but smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please send me soulmate imagines or otp imagines that you'd like me to write!


	10. This Compass Doesn't Point North

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You have a compass that points to your soulmate

Dean Winchester didn’t remember when he had gotten the broken compass. He knew the myth about them, though. He knew that a few lucky people had soulmates. They supposedly had compasses to lead them to each other. He took the compass out of his pocket and watched the needle spin in circles without stopping. Listening to the needle spin in its metal case helped him think when he was working. He kept it in his pocket during the day and pressed his thumb to the glass cover above the spinning needle. He didn’t think his had anything to do with soulmates. It was just a broken compass that he liked.

 

Dean could feel his heart hammering in his chest as the roof of the barn began to shake violently above him. “Wishful thinking, but maybe it’s just the wind!” Dean shouted to Bobby. He stuck his hand into his pocket for the first time since he’d gotten out of Hell. The compass was there but there was no feeling of a spinning needle. He pulled it out of his pocket quickly to look. The ever spinning needle was now very still and pointing straight at the barn door. He shoved it back into his pocket and raised his gun.

 

Cas had nothing to do. The boys were asleep. There was no active case since they just finished one. He had been scolded by Dean multiple times for watching them sleep or sitting idle waiting for them to wake up. Cas had never been through the pockets of Jimmy Novak’s trench coat or suit. He found a wallet with Jimmy’s driver’s license, credit cards, cash, and pictures of his family. He put the wallet back into its pocket and pulled out a small compass.

“This is incorrect.” Cas muttered to himself as he looked at it. The needle was supposed to be pointing North as compasses usually do. The needle was pointing toward the beds behind Cas. Cas turned and the needle turned with him, aiming at Dean’s sleeping form. Cas turned back around and shook the compass once before deciding that it was broken and returning it to his pocket.

 

Dean, the newest resident of Purgatory, was covered in blood and alone. Well. Not completely alone. He had met Benny who promised to show him a way out of Purgatory if he could hitch a ride. Dean was without his angel and wasn’t about to leave Purgatory without finding him. It was too dark to keep moving. Benny was keeping watch and Dean was supposed to be sleeping. Dean’s hand closed around his compass in his pocket.

“Shit.” Dean pulled it out of his pocket and squinted in the dark at the needle. It was still and pointing away from him. He would be lying to himself if he said he hadn’t noticed that the needle was always pointing to Cas.

“What’s wrong, brother?” Benny asked in his usual casual drawl.

“I know how to find Cas.” Dean said, smiling to himself in the dark.

 

“Sam.”

“What’s up, Cas?” Cas was alone with the younger Winchester for once.

“Something’s wrong with this compass and I can’t seem to fix it.” Cas put the compass on the table between himself and Sam. Sam knew the myths about the soulmate compasses. He had one that he smashed after Jessica died. He picked up the compass already knowing that it wasn’t a normal compass.

“That’s a soulmate compass.” Sam smiled a little, wondering who could possibly be the soulmate of the angel, Castiel. “Where did you get one?”

“How does it work?” Cas asked, ignoring Sam’s question.

“Instead of pointing North, they point to the person you’re destined to be with.” Sam handed it back to Cas who held it very gingerly.

“I’ve got beer. I’ve got pizza. I’ve got pie.” Dean said as he threw open the door to the bunker and started down the stairs. Cas quickly put the compass back into his pocket but not before Sam noticed the needle had followed Dean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment with suggestions/requests and I'll see what I can do! :)


	11. The Color of Pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If a soulmate gets hurt, a mark in their favorite color will appear on their soulmate in the same spot.
> 
> From TearOfTheWolf

Castiel didn’t notice the colorful little mark on Jimmy’s hand disappear as he took over the vessel. The little mark that matched his wife’s scar on her hand from when she had cut her hand while cooking a month ago. Castiel was uninterested and far too busy to notice. He was being summoned again. This time to Dean Winchester. 

Dean and Bobby raised their guns and aimed them at the door of the barn. The latch broke and the doors began to open without being prompted by the man who was now walking through them. His deep blue eyes were intent on Dean. Both men fired shots into the creature’s chest. 

Dean had felt small pains in his chest all through that fight but he had ignored them. He ignored it until he was alone again in the small bathroom at the hotel. Bobby was in the room next door and Sam was sleeping, sprawled over his bed and snoring lightly. Dean pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it onto the counter. 

Blue marks covered his chest. Just over his heart looked like a stab wound made of the angel’s eye color. What looked like blue gunshots covered his entire torso. He ran his hands over the marks lightly and watched as they faded away. 

Alone and in his vessel still at the barn, Castiel healed the wounds that Dean had inflicted upon him. 

 

Usually, Amelia Novak was covered with small lavender marks from Jimmy being a clutz. She was used to looking down and suddenly seeing a new one appear on her hand and knowing that her husband had just gotten a paper cut or a hangnail. Sometimes they’d appear on her arm where he walked into a door handle by accident. 

Amelia looked in horror at her arms and hands when she woke up the next morning. Jimmy’s side of the bed had been empty when she’d woken up and she’d laid her hand out on his pillow as she always did when he had gotten up before her. Her skin was clear of all lavender lines. There were no small scrapes. There were no small bruises. There was nothing. She sat up and her jaw dropped in a silent scream as her arms were clear. 

Amelia found her daughter asleep on the floor in front of the door. She gently woke her daughter who immediately asked where her father was. “I saw him go so I followed him and he sounded… different.” Claire stumbled over her words as the night came back to her in a rush. “He said he wasn’t my dad.” Claire’s tears finally fell as her mother’s colorless arms wound around her and held her close. 

 

Claire Novak had been raised for the first portion of her childhood in a loving home. Her parents had been soulmates and they told her about the colorful marks that show up to tell the soulmate that the one they love needs care or help or more love. They told her all about soulmates and love. Her mother had stopped when her marks were gone. When her dad was gone. 

Claire had never had any marks of her own show up. She had seen a few appear on her friends in foster homes or on old couples in parks. She hadn’t seen them in a very long time. Until she was saying goodbye to the Winchesters and the angel who wore her father’s face. Her heart ached in her chest when she saw light green marks on her father’s hands. Light green marks on his face. They weren’t for her now dead mother. They weren’t her father’s marks. She turned away and looked up into the face of Dean Winchester who had a very light bruise on his cheek. She knew before she looked down at his hands that they would be bruised from the punches he had thrown the night before. His injuries matched the light green bruises on Castiel. 

She sat in the cab and reminded herself that her father was dead. Her mother was dead. They didn’t need their bodies to bear each other’s marks because they were together again. Castiel could bear his own marks now. He was the only soul occupying that body. It was his now. So were the light bruises that matched Dean’s. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Request/Suggest "Imagine your OTP" or "Soulmate AU" that you would like me to write and I'll see what I can do! :)


	12. Coda for 13x05

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Season 13 SPOILERS  
> This is a coda for the ending of 13x05   
> Destiel oriented. Nowhere else to put this so I'm putting it here.

Sam slept easily. He had always slept easily regardless of where he was. He could sleep in a crappy bed in a motel, a comfortable bed at the bunker, curled up in the impala, on a couch. Dean tried to ignore it now as his brother readjusted himself against the door of the impala in his sleep. 

He thought back to the hotel they had just been staying at. How Sam had practically tried to throw him at the strip club in hopes of making him feel better. Dean had lied. He hadn’t gone to the strip club. He hadn’t gone and found some kinky one night stand. He had found a way to appease his brother and drink himself to sleep in a reasonable fashion. He’d bought a bra and a flog and a bottle of whiskey and gone to sleep on the floor in true drunk Dean fashion. Sam had, of course, bought it and left him to sleep there. 

Dean shook his head of the memory as he drove. He tried not to think but trying not to think was making him think about the whole case they’d just attempted and ultimately lost. He could hear his own voice all but confessing to Billie that he wanted to die. He heard himself telling Sam, “I just need a win.” He felt defeated. He felt alone. He felt at fault. 

Every time he had yelled at Sam about everyone he had lost, he had yelled about Mary and Cas. Deep down he knew he was sad about Mary but he had lived most of his life without her. He knew mourning her would be hard but he had done it before. Nothing he had ever felt came close to the pain at losing Cas. Losing Cas was why he felt the way that he did now. He had failed the angel who had raised him from Hell. He had been standing right in front of him as he was stabbed by the archangel that he and his brother had set free in the first place. He had built the pyre, wrapped the body, and burned the angel that he had failed.  

The phone rang on the bench seat next to Dean and Dean almost didn’t answer. He’d just finished work. He had been driving for hours. He had failed the case. He’d died. He wanted to die still. He picked up the phone. 

“Yeah?”

“Hello, Dean.” 

Dean’s heart stopped. It was all he could do to keep the car driving and not crash as his heart resumed, slamming into his ribcage faster and faster. Dean looked over at Sam who was now awake and no words came as his brother asked, “What?” 

There were no words for what Dean was hearing. His angel was on the phone. His angel was alive. Cas was alive. Cas was alive and on the phone. 

“Cas.” Dean breathed finally. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember to tell me if you want me to write a certain soulmate au or otp prompt.


	13. Too Late

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Cas came back from the Empty but years had passed and he didn’t know. Cas found Dean but Sam was dead and Dean was retired and married."

Dean Winchester had long since lost the ache in his ribs from where Castiel had long ago carved Enochian into them to keep him hidden. It had been too many years without the constant upkeep of bone regrowth. It had been too long since he had seen his Castiel. 

Dean spun the plain silver ring on his left hand as he ate a quiet breakfast. The old dog in the corner who waited for Dean to finish eating had once belonged to Sam. The dog stood up and went to Dean, putting his head in his lap, begging for the last piece of bacon. Dean had grown soft. He had once yelled at Sam for adding Bear, the oversized puppy, to the family. Now, he gave his last piece of bacon to his brother’s dog and went to the sink to clean his plate. 

* * *

Cas stood up in a field. He had won. He had gotten out of the Empty. Something was wrong, though. He closed his eyes and tested if he could locate Dean. As strong as when Dean had first reemerged from Hell, there was Dean on his radar. A bright light for him to follow. 

Cas stood in front of a small house and wondered if maybe Dean was on a hunt here. Outside the small house was the shining black impala that gave Cas the confidence to walk toward the house. There was a huge brown dog with flecks of white on his face sitting on the small front porch. The dog wagged his tail and barked happily. 

“Son of a bitch.” Cas heard Dean inside the house. Cas felt himself freeze as he stood on the walkway. “What is it, Bear-” Dean had opened the door and stopped. Stopped walking. Stopped breathing. Stopped. 

Dean’s once brown hair had grayed. His boots, which had been efficient while hunting, had been retired for a pair of plaid slippers. On each hand now, Dean had a shining silver ring on each of his ring fingers. His eyes were just the same, though. 

“Cas.” Dean breathed after what felt like years. 

“Hello, Dean.” 

“Cas.” Dean said again and half fell into the door he had been holding open. Castiel rushed to him and caught him as Dean fell to the ground. 

* * *

Dean found himself in the all too familiar place of standing and watching his lifeless form while he knew he was dead. He felt panic rising as he watched Castiel, his Castiel, sobbing his name. 

“No! No no no!” Dean turned around to face Death. 

“Now, Dean.” Billie said in her cool voice. 

“No! I just got him back!” 

“I listened to you pray, Dean. I listened to you say the words that once you’d gotten to see Castiel again, you’re life would be complete.” 

Dean’s face fell, hearing his own words against him. He turned around and watched Cas hold him. He nodded once and went with Billie. 

* * *

Cas carried Dean into the house and laid Dean on the empty kitchen table. He walked to the nearest closet and grabbed a white sheet. 

“Dean, what was Bear barking about?” A woman’s voice came from down the hall but Cas ignored it. He walked to Dean and rested one hand on Dean’s chest, where there would have been a beat. There should have been a beat. 

“Dean?” Cas turned this time to see a short woman with gray streaked dark hair. She stopped in her tracks and reached for her belt, raising a gun and aiming at Cas. “Get out of my house.” Cas saw the gleam of her wedding ring but he didn’t care. He took a few steps as she shot once. He ignored the shot that had hit him square in the chest and touched his two fingers to her forehead very gently. She fell and he returned to Dean. 

Cas bound Dean in the white sheet and left him there to go build the pyre in the yard. He did so silently with the dog following him at his heels. He laid Dean on top of the pyre and asked the dog to sit down far enough away from the fire that he wouldn’t get hurt. He lit the fire and went to stand with the dog who let out a sad howl. 

“Goodbye, Dean.” 

* * *

Castiel stood in the small playground that he knew to be the gateway into Heaven. It seemed to be one of the few things unchanged about the world. He drew a few Enochian Runes to keep himself hidden and stepped into Heaven. 

He didn’t have a lot of time before he was found. He knew that if he was discovered to be alive, that he still wouldn’t be welcomed home by the angels. He had to be quick. He raced down the pristine white corridors. He could hear the alarm of a random opening of the gateway. He could hear the angels talking and worrying. They knew something was wrong. He ran faster straight to the door with Dean Winchester’s name. He opened the door quickly and closed it soundlessly behind him. 

“Cas!” Castiel turned and saw Dean as he remembered him. Young, in flannel, jeans, and boots. Light brown hair and the biggest grin under the sprinkle of freckles. The bright green eyes that he knew and loved. 

“Hello, Dean.” Cas smiled as Dean wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug. 


	14. Tattoo Transfer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For EllaRyan37  
> People have a certain tattoo on their body, and when they meet their soulmate, they gain the others tattoo. If/When they die, the tattoo fades into a scar.

Sam Winchester looked at his small rebellious act of freedom. After his fight with his dad, he’d packed what he needed and left with doors slamming behind him and his brother, Dean, shouting after him. Sam looked at the small tattoo. He’d never been barred from getting a tattoo. Not in so many words at least. This one was just a simple black outline of a single door on his ankle. It didn’t look like much and it was small, but it was there. It was for every door he’s opened when his father told him not to. It was for every door slammed during the fight. It was for every new door that was about to be opened. 

Jessica Moore laughed as she looked at her brand new butterfly tattoo that now adorned the back of her right shoulder. It was for her best friend who stared at her own matching butterfly with the same look of “did we just do that?” that Jessica had on her face. The wings of her own butterfly were blue and geen, the only difference to her best friends’ which were orange and red. The tattoos would be their tokens of friendship as they went to their separate colleges across the country from each other. 

It had been a year since Sam had moved into his college dorm. A year since he’d gotten his simplistic tattoo. A year since he’d seen or heard from his father or Dean. It had been a year of straight A’s and study. A year. Likewise, it had been a year since Jess had said goodbye to her best friend with the matching butterfly. A year since she’d made a whole new group of friends. A year of passed classes and laid back parties. 

* * *

“Oh, sorry!” Sam stammered as books tumbled to the floor. 

“No, I should have been looking where I was walking.” Jess said as she stooped to pick up her books. Sam crouched next to her, grabbing a few of his books and sorting the papers that had flown out. “Thanks.” Jess smiled, finally looking up to meet Sam’s sunflower burst eyes. 

“Sam.” Sam said as they both got up from the floor. 

“Jessica. But everyone calls me Jess.” She smiled again before scribbling her number on a piece of paper and tearing it off. “Call me sometime?” Sam took it hesitantly and nodded. 

“Yeah. See you around.” And she was gone. 

* * *

Jessica sat on her bed at her dorm with her roommate sitting on the end. Her roommate pressed her for more details on Sam, the boy with the books. “I don’t know what else to tell you. Maybe he’ll call. Maybe he won’t.” Jess grinned and pulled at her jeans with her fidgeting hands. A spot on her ankle caught her eye and she pulled up the leg of her jeans further. 

“When did you get a tattoo of a door?” 

“I… didn’t?” Jessica ran her fingers over it. It was definitely a tattoo. 

“Oh my god.” Her roommate gawked. “Is this the soulmate thing? When you meet the love of your life you gain their tattoo?” 

“I don’t think Sam would have a tattoo of a door.” Jess raised an eyebrow and pulled her jeans back down. 

“I guess you’ll find out on your date.” 

* * *

Sam stared in the mirror in horror. The blue and green butterfly on his shoulder would not leave. He’d tried scrubbing it off in the shower. He’d tried make up remover from the girlfriend of his roommate. He’d tried rubbing alcohol and dish soap. He’d tried scratching and rubbing. This butterfly was not coming off. He pulled his shirt back on and groaned. 

“Maybe you were drunk,” his roommate offered from across the room. 

“I’m never that drunk.” Sam looked at his phone and contemplated calling Jess anyway. She’d never know about this tattoo thing anyway. They weren’t going to go that far on a first date, right? He was ahead of himself. He dialed her number. 

“Hello?”

“Jess? This is Sam.” 

“Oh! Hi!”

“I was-”

“Do you have a tattoo of a door?!” A different voice came in from Jess’ end of the phone.

“I might have one. Who-?”

“I’m sorry. My roommate just has crazy ideas.” Jess half laughed. 

“Do you have a butterfly tattoo?” Sam asked even though it was far fetched. 

“Uhm. Yeah…”

* * *

It had been three years since Sam had felt alone.It had been two years since Sam and Jessica had literally run into each other. Two years since their first date...first kiss. Two years since they each found their new tattoos. It had been one year since they had rented an apartment together. One year since Sam knew that one day he was going to propose to her. One day since his world had shattered. One day since she’d died. 

Dean was asleep in the motel bed across the room. Sam couldn’t sleep. Dean had done his best to stay awake but was running on almost two days without sleep. Sam got up and went to the sink to splash cold water on his face like people always did in movies. It didn’t help. He straightened up and ran his hand over his right shoulder. He moved his shirt out of the way and his heart stopped. The dumb little butterfly was gone. The butterfly he’d resigned himself to having for the rest of his life was gone. In its place was a scar in the shape of a butterfly’s silhouette. Sam let himself crumple to the floor with his hand on the butterfly scar and let himself cry in the dark silence of the motel room. 


	15. The Voice In My Head

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Voice in your head is your soulmate's

“Dean?” a very young Sam Winchester whispered from his hotel bed. Their dad was still out on a hunt, leaving Dean to watch over Sam.

Dean turned over in his bed to face Sam across the room. “What?”

“Do you know what a soulmate is?” Sam asked quietly.

“No and I don’t care. Goodnight.” Dean rolled back over and closed his eyes even though he wasn’t even a little tired.

“Peter, from school, said that soulmates are when two people are meant to be together like husband and wife.” When Dean didn’t respond Sam continued. “He said his parents are soulmates. They knew because because there’s the tiny voice in your head that says your thoughts as you think them and the voice was each other’s.” Dean opened his eyes but he didn’t move. “Was Mom Dad’s soulmate, Dean?”

“Yes.” Dean didn’t know. He didn’t want to know if he was wrong. He heard Sam wowing and continuing to tangent but his mind was stuck on what he had said. Soulmates were two people who were meant to be together as husband and wife.

“Do you have a different voice in your head, Dean?” Sam asked for the second time in a row.

“No.” Dean lied.

* * *

“I’m the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition.” Dean had heard that voice every day for his entire life and never thought he’d be facing a monster with the same voice. He had long since forgotten about soulmates and finding the match. He had forced the memory of Sam telling him about it out until he was looking into the very blue eyes of the monster who had apparently brought him back from Hell.

“I mean what are you?” Dean had hated himself for years for having a deep man’s voice reading out his thoughts in his mind. Now the self hate returned just a little as he found the voice belonged to a creature immune to a demon blade, iron, and every sigil he and Bobby knew.

“I’m an Angel of the Lord.” Castiel replied. The longer they spoke, the more Dean felt his own self hatred. He was soulmates with a creature that possessed someone else or he was soulmates with the someone that was possessed. He knew it was the first one. He knew as his heart slammed in his chest as Castiel revealed his wings, lightning flashing outside. He knew as Castiel spoke and stepped closer. He knew as those blue eyes bore into him. He knew but there was nothing he could do about it.

 


	16. Dean's Heaven

Castiel stood alone in the too bright white corridor outside of Dean Winchester’s door in Heaven completely alone. He hesitated at the door wondering if he would be tortured by the other angels again for entering a human’s Heaven. He knew it was forbidden but it was forbidden to fall in love with a human too. 

He raised his hand to the knob but didn’t turn it. He desperately wanted to go inside and find Dean in the bunker with a beer and his feet up on the table. He wanted to find that Dean’s Heaven needed him there. Cas had seen Dean’s Heaven once before. It had been a reel of the Winchester’s Greatest Hits featuring Sam and Dean. He remembered helping Sam and Dean find Ash and escape. He didn’t think it would be the same as it had been. Dean had grown a lot since then, of course. And they wouldn’t be attempting escape. Dean had gone with his reaper willingly. 

Castiel finally opened the door and felt the cold breeze slam into him like a brick wall. The door closed behind him and Cas couldn’t move. His heart ached as he looked around him and didn’t see the bunker. He only saw trees and blood. He heard the deafening silence cut with screams that was the sounds of Purgatory. Everything around him was a perfect replica of Purgatory down to the last twig. 

“Cas?” Dean’s voice came from behind him. Cas turned and found Dean, dirty and covered in blood. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” Dean smiled that heartbreaking smile and pulled Cas into a hug.  

Cas wrapped his arms around Dean tightly and said, “Hello, Dean.” 

Purgatory melted around them and when Cas opened his eyes again they were standing outside next to the impala. Dean pulled away and the dirt, grime, and blood was gone too. “Now this,” Dean said, leaning against the impala and draping his arm over Cas’s shoulder, “is Heaven.” 

Castiel had long forgotten about the door back to the white corridor. He had forgotten about the other angels. He had forgotten and had let everything outside of Dean’s private Heaven fade away as he leaned against his hunter. 


	17. Timers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> everyone has a little clock on their wrist that counts down until you meet your soulmate
> 
> Requested by  
> Hello83433

A very young Sam Winchester looked from his wrist to his Dad’s as they walked to a motel room. Six zeros stained his wrist like a faded tattoo of a digital clock. Sam’s own tattoo was longer. He knew the numbers but he didn’t know what they meant. Dean kept his covered at all times and never spoke of it. So Sam never asked.

Dean both loved and hated the timer that stamped his wrist like a ticking bomb. It had been drilled into his head that he was nothing more than a soldier to avenge his mother’s death and hunt the monsters they ran into in the meantime. He wasn’t allowed to have friends. He wasn’t meant to fall in love. But it was right there in pure black numbers on his wrist. The timer counting down to when he would meet his soulmate. He loved it because it meant he was worth something. He was matched to someone else. He already meant something to someone who didn’t even know him. He hated it because he knew he wouldn’t be able to love them. His life would probably lead to their death. It could lead to his own death. It wouldn’t end well.

John Winchester hadn’t seen Dean’s timer since he turned five. Dean had started taking baths by himself, dressing by himself, and had even used a black marker at kindergarten to cover it up. John knew it was still there but it was obvious that Dean wanted nothing to do with the numbers, the soulmate. His baby boy Sam, though. Sam would trace the numbers while he was in the bath and he would ask John about them. Sam would point at John’s old timer and ask about Mary. Sam loved his timer but as he got older he stopped talking about it.

* * *

Jessica Moore turned around quickly after grabbing her books from the floor. She had just walked into the cutest guy and her timer hit zero. She covered her arm before turning around to introduce herself to him.

“Jessica. But everyone calls me Jess.” She grinned and held out a hand.

“Sam. My friends call me Sam.” He smiled back and shook her hand. She left a piece of paper in his hand and ran off with her friend, looking over her shoulder once. Sam looked down at the scrawled number and smiled. He called her of course. The second he got back to his dorm room.

“Hello?”

“Hi. Jess? This is Sam. We ran into each other at the library earlier.”

“Oh! Sam!”

They made a date. He picked her up at her dorm and took her to dinner. They got to the table and she shrugged off her coat and sat down opposite Sam. He saw the zeros on her wrist but they couldn’t have been for him, right? His numbers were still counting down. He ignored it and let himself fall for her.

* * *

Two years later Sam sat bolt upright in bed. His dream had been a nightmare. Jessica was next to him and she was fine. There was no fire or blood. There were no screams or sirens. Just darkness, silence, and relief.

“What’s wrong, sweetie?” Jess murmured, running her hand down Sam’s back. He leaned back and let himself breathe.

“Just a bad dream. Tell me something nice.” Sam sighed his relief.

“Mmmm.” Jess rolled so her head was on his chest. “I remember when I ran into you at the library. My timer hit zero immediately. I was blushing so hard my face was burning up. When you called I got that same goofy grin on my face that I had when I turned around to introduce myself.” Jess smiled sleepily into Sam’s chest as he ran his hand through her hair.

“I love you.” Sam whispered and tried to push his own timer, that he kept covered now, out of his mind.

* * *

Sam had learned to hate his timer as much as Dean had growing up. He hated it when he saw it knowing that it wasn’t counting down to Jessica. He hated it when it kept counting down as he grieved Jessica’s death. He hated it as he met woman after woman who Dean was sure was meant for Sam and his timer kept going.

Dean had his gun raised and aimed at the barn door. His eye caught his timer at thirty seconds but he ignored it because he was in the middle of hunting. The doors opened and lights sparked and shattered. Dean knew his timer had just hit zero. He shot anyway. The man kept walking. More lights shattered with little light explosions as the supposed soulmate of Dean Winchester continued to walk further into the barn despite the sigils, gunshots, traps, and everything else that had been set up.

As Castiel, Angel of the Lord, showed Dean Winchester his wings, Dean wilted inside. He had never wanted a soulmate in the first place. He was meant to be with a creature. A powerful monster. A thing that possesses another human.

Dean of course tried thinking of how his timer could be wrong. Maybe he was supposed to be with the poor bastard who was possessed. Maybe he had to get rid of the angel and save his soulmate? When Dean looked into the eyes of Jimmy Novak for the first time, Dean knew he had been wrong. He felt the vacancy of the angel and hated that he wished for Castiel to return to his “vessel”.

* * *

It was years later when Sam caught a glimpse of Dean’s timer and stopped. The numbers were at zero. When had that even happened? Why wasn’t Dean with them? Sam looked down at his own timer and back to Dean’s. How long had Dean’s been at zero?

“Dean?” Dean looked over at Sam with an eyebrow raised. Sam nodded toward Dean’s wrist. “When did that happen?” Dean’s eyes flashed to Cas quickly as he covered his wrist and stood up.

Sam watched Cas fall. He heard his brother scream. He knew. Sam left Dean who had fallen to his knees next to Cas.

Dean watched Cas burn on the pyre built for the hunter’s funeral. The pyre he had built by himself. He watched the flames and couldn’t cry. He wanted to burn the zeros from his wrist in the fire. He wanted to wake up. He couldn’t wake up.

* * *

Dean sat down in the impala again. Billie had just kept him from dying. She was Death now and had some higher purpose for Dean. He rolled up his sleeves and rolled the window down. On his wrist numbers replaced his faded zeros. He almost stomped on the brakes. He yanked his sleeve down and stepped down harder on the gas. Sam looked over but didn’t say anything.

Then, the phone rang and Dean grabbed it. “Yeah?”

“Hello, Dean.” Dean’s heart slammed in his chest.

In the car as they neared the meeting point, Dean checked his timer. One minute. They parked. Thirty seconds. He closed his door. Ten. He turned and saw Cas standing under the streetlamp. Zero.


	18. Chapter 18

To the followers of these stories: I am reformatting to make them easier to find. These will be turned into single fics all published in a series rather than a single story. You can find and follow the reformatted stories on my page. When I am finished I will leave this up for a week before deleting this and only leaving the new version on my account. Thank you for reading. <3 


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